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TITLE 34PUBLIC FINANCE
PART 1COMPTROLLER OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
CHAPTER 3TAX ADMINISTRATION
SUBCHAPTER OSTATE AND LOCAL SALES AND USE TAXES
RULE §3.340Qualified Research

(a) Definitions. The following words and terms, when used in this section, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

  (1) Business component--A business component is any product, process, computer software, technique, formula, or invention, which is to be held for sale, lease, or license, or used by the taxpayer in a trade or business of the taxpayer.

  (2) Combined group--Taxable entities that are part of an affiliated group engaged in a unitary business and that are required to file a combined group report under Tax Code, §171.1014 (Combined Reporting; Affiliated Group Engaged in Unitary Business). For more information about combined groups, see §3.590 of this title (relating to Margin: Combined Reporting).

  (3) Directly used in qualified research--Having an immediate use in qualified research activity, without an intervening or ancillary use.

  (4) Four-Part Test--The test described in IRC, §41(d) (Qualified research defined) that determines whether research activities are qualified research. The four parts of the test are the Section 174 Test, the Discovering Technological Information Test, the Business Component Test, and the Process of Experimentation Test.

  (5) Franchise tax research and development activities credit--A credit against franchise tax for qualified research activities that is allowed under Tax Code, Chapter 171, Subchapter M (Tax Credit for Certain Research and Development Activities).

  (6) Internal Revenue Code (IRC)--The Internal Revenue Code of 1986 in effect on December 31, 2011, excluding any changes made by federal law after that date, but including any regulations adopted under the code applicable to the tax year to which the provisions of the code in effect on that date applied. A regulation adopted after December 31, 2011 is only included in this term to the extent that a taxpayer could have applied the regulation to the 2011 federal income tax year. Examples of treasury regulations included in this definition are:

    (A) Treasury Regulation, §1.174-2 (Definition of research and experimental expenditures) as contained in 26 CFR part 1 (revised as of July 21, 2014);

    (B) Treasury Regulation, §1.41-4 (Qualified research for expenditures paid or incurred in taxable years ending on or after December 31, 2003) as contained in 26 CFR part 1 (revised as of November 3, 2016), except for paragraph (c)(6) (Internal use software). For paragraph (c)(6), as provided in the last sentence of Treasury Regulation, §1.41-4 (e) (Effective/applicability dates), taxpayers may elect to follow either of the following versions of paragraph (c)(6):

      (i) Treasury Regulation, §1.41-4(c)(6) (Internal-use computer software) as contained in 26 CFR part 1 (revised as of April 1, 2003) and IRB 2001-5; or

      (ii) Proposed Treasury Regulation, §1.41-4(c)(6) (Internal use software for taxable years beginning on or after the December 31, 1985) as contained in IRB 2002-4.

  (7) Qualified research--This term has the meaning given in IRC, §41(d), except that the research must be conducted in Texas. Qualified research activities must satisfy each part of the Four-Part Test.

  (8) Registrant--A taxpayer who holds a Texas Qualified Research Registration Number issued by the comptroller.

  (9) Registration number--The Texas Qualified Research Registration Number issued by the comptroller to a taxpayer who submits the Texas Registration for Qualified Research and Development Sales Tax Exemption form.

  (10) Taxable entity--This term has the meaning given by Tax Code, §171.0002 (Definition of Taxable Entity).

(b) Depreciable tangible personal property used in qualified research.

  (1) Subject to paragraph (2) of this subsection, the sale, storage, or use of tangible personal property is exempt from Texas sales and use tax if the property:

    (A) has a useful life that exceeds one year;

    (B) is subject to depreciation under:

      (i) generally accepted accounting principles; or

      (ii) IRC, §167 (Depreciation) or §168 (Accelerated cost recovery system); and

    (C) is sold, leased, rented to, stored, or used by a taxpayer engaged in qualified research; and

    (D) is directly used in qualified research. Depreciable tangible personal property is directly used in qualified research if it is used in the actual performance of activities that are part of the qualified research. For example, machinery, equipment, computers, software, tools, laboratory furniture such as desks, laboratory tables, stools, benches, and storage cabinets, and other tangible personal property used by personnel in the process of experimentation are directly used in qualified research. Tangible personal property is not directly used in qualified research if it is used in ancillary or support activities such as administration, maintenance, marketing, distribution, or transportation activities, or if it is used in activities excluded from qualified research. For example, machinery and equipment used by administrative, accounting, or clerical personnel are not directly used in qualified research.

  (2) A taxpayer may not claim the exemption if that taxpayer will, as a taxable entity or as a member of a combined group, claim a franchise tax research and development activities credit on a franchise tax report based on the accounting period during which the depreciable tangible personal property used in qualified research would first be subject to Texas sales or use tax.

  (3) A claim for a carryforward of an unused franchise tax research and development activities credit under Tax Code, §171.659 (Carryforward) does not affect a taxpayer's ability, as a taxable entity or as a member of a combined group, to claim the sales and use tax exemption provided by paragraph (1) of this subsection.

  (4) Property satisfies paragraph (1)(B) of this subsection if it is subject to depreciation under generally accepted accounting principles, IRC, §167, or IRC, §168 even if the taxpayer does not actually depreciate that property.

  (5) Property satisfies paragraph (1) of this subsection only if it is tangible personal property subject to depreciation at the time a taxpayer purchases it. For example, assume a taxpayer purchases tangible personal property that is not subject to depreciation. The taxpayer later incorporates that property into real property that is subject to depreciation. Although the real property with the incorporated tangible personal property is subject to depreciation, the tangible personal property, on its own, was never subject to depreciation. The tangible personal property does not satisfy paragraph (1) of this subsection because it was never subject to depreciation as tangible personal property.

  (6) A taxpayer has the burden of establishing its entitlement to the exemption by clear and convincing evidence, including proof that the research activities meet the definition of qualified research and applying the shrink-back rule described in subsection (c)(3) of this section. All qualified research activities must be supported by contemporaneous business records.

  (7) An Internal Revenue Service audit determination of eligibility for the federal research and development credit under IRC, §41 (Credit for increasing research activities), whether that determination is that the taxpayer qualifies or does not qualify for the federal research and development credit, is not binding on the comptroller's determination of eligibility for the exemption.

(c) Application of the Four-Part Test. Research activities must satisfy each part of the Four-Part Test, as described in paragraph (1) of this subsection, to be qualified research.

  (1) Four-Part Test.

    (A) Section 174 Test. Expenditures related to the research must be eligible to be treated as expenses under IRC, §174 (Research and experimental expenditures).

      (i) Expenditures are eligible to be treated as expenses under IRC, §174, if the expenditures are incurred in connection with the taxpayer's trade or business and represent a research and development cost in the experimental or laboratory sense. Expenditures represent research and development costs in the experimental or laboratory sense if they are for activities intended to discover information that would eliminate uncertainty concerning the development or improvement of a product. Uncertainty exists if the information available to the taxpayer does not establish the capability or method for developing or improving the product or the appropriate design of the product.

      (ii) For the purposes of this test, the term "product" includes any pilot model, process, formula, invention, technique, patent, or similar property, and includes products to be used by the taxpayer in its trade or business as well as products to be held for sale, lease, or license.

      (iii) Expenditures for the following are not eligible to be treated as expenses under IRC, §174:

Cont'd...

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